


have you made plans for the rest of your life

by Fives (janfives90)



Series: ain't going out like that [9]
Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, weird west au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janfives90/pseuds/Fives
Summary: Home looks better than it ever has.Emma gets off of her horse and ties it to the railing outside her grandmother’s home, her heart thudding painfully in her chest.“Are you ready for this?” Alyssa asks, tying her own horse next to her.“I don’t know,” Emma admits. “I think I have to be.”
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Series: ain't going out like that [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1500725
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	have you made plans for the rest of your life

Home looks better than it ever has.

Emma gets off of her horse and ties it to the railing outside her grandmother’s home, her heart thudding painfully in her chest.

“Are you ready for this?” Alyssa asks, tying her own horse next to her.

“I don’t know,” Emma admits. “I think I have to be.”

They enter through the gate and head for the front door, but it opens before they get there.

The old woman in the doorway looks at Emma through narrowed eyes. “So,” she murmurs. “You blow up my barn and get arrested, then run off to do God knows what, then have the nerve to come back here?”

Emma bows her head. “Yes, ma’am.”

Her grandmother walks out of the house and pulls her into a tight hug. “It’s about damn time.”

Emma lets out a ragged breath as she hugs her back. “I missed you,” she whispers.

“I missed you, too, kiddo.” Mrs. Nolan leans back, gripping Emma by the shoulders as she looks at Alyssa, shyly hanging back. “Who’s this?”

“U-Uhm. This is…” Emma rubs the back of her neck, then straightens a bit, pulling in her courage. “This is the woman I love, Gran.”

Mrs. Nolan’s eyes soften, and she goes to Alyssa, hugging her, too. “Well. It is  _ very _ nice to meet you, dear.”

* * *

  
Alyssa sits down on the bench on the back porch of Mrs. Nolan’s house, watching Emma feed chickens in the yard. When she’s done, she heads over to the porch stairs and leans against the railing, taking her bandana off from around her neck and wiping her brow.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes. Your grandmother is very sweet. She offered to teach me how to bake peach pie.”

“Did she now? She wouldn’t teach me that.”

Alyssa laughs. “Yes, well, she said you’re a disaster in the kitchen.”

Emma grimaces. “She’s probably not wrong.” She takes her gloves off and sits down next to Alyssa. “Uhm. We keep avoiding this conversation, but it’s one we need to have.”

“What conversation?”

“What happens now?” Emma leans on her knees, looking out at the chicken coops. “You don’t need me anymore, Lys. You aren’t perfect with your magic, but there isn’t much else I can teach you. You found your dad. If I’m not… I mean, you don’t need to keep me around. I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do if you don’t want me.”

Alyssa frowns. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t I want you?”

Emma gives a small, strained laugh. “You have a life to go back to. One that doesn’t really have room for someone like me. I don’t really have anything. I don’t want to crawl back here and beg my grandmother for a life.”

“There’s no life for me back home, Em. Sure, my mother is coming around, improving, but her life isn’t the one I want for myself. I’ve realized that I don’t want a life of violence, either. I’m not really sure what I want, aside from one thing. I want you.”

“Yeah?”

Alyssa leans against her shoulder and kisses her. “Yeah.”

“We, uh… We can’t get married. Every church within a hundred miles knows I’m a magician. They’d shoot me if I even  _ asked _ them to marry us.”

“It’s okay.” Alyssa skims her fingers up Emma’s back. “We don’t need a piece of paper to belong to each other, right?”

Emma nods and rests her forehead against Alyssa’s. “Some nights, when I dreamed of the possibility that maybe I’d be able to be free, I saw myself with a little ranch. A few cows, some horses, some dogs.”

Alyssa grins. “You want to be a cowboy instead of an outlaw.”

Emma laughs. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“We’ll need to find money. We don’t have much between us right now.”

“The governor offered me a temporary job. I kinda lost control when I was talking to her. Melted the handcuffs they had on me. I-”

“Your fire is enough to  _ melt handcuffs?” _

Emma gives her a shy smile. “I run hot.”

“You’re hot alright,” Alyssa mutters.

“I…” Emma clears her throat as her gaze wanders to Alyssa’s lips. “Anyway. She has a few projects she thinks a magician can help with. Nothing fancy, just railwork and minework that equipment hasn’t been able to solve. She’ll pay enough, Lys. A year or so of helping her, and we can start over.”

“Is that what you want?”

“To start over? With you? Yes.”

“I meant the job, Em.”

Emma shrugs. “A job’s a job. It’s nothing special.”

Alyssa brings her fingers up to play with the hair at the back of Emma’s neck. “My mother did offer that I could stay on and work with her for as long as I needed.”

“You said you didn’t want that life.”

“I don’t. But like you said, a job is a job.” Alyssa leans over and playfully nips at Emma’s ear to make her shiver. “We’ll take the year. Work as much as we can. Save as much as we can. And then we’ll start fresh, you and I. Our own little place in this strange little world.”

“I’m not sure of the exact arrangement the governor wants, but let me make this clear, I am not avoiding you for a full year. We’re going to see each other as often as possible.”

“We had better.” Alyssa smirks. “After all, you promised that I could tie you up.”

Emma blushes. “I-”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Emma’s grandmother says, standing in the doorway with a barely-contained smile on her face. “I just wanted to tell you that dinner is ready if you girls are ready to eat.”

Emma, somehow, blushes even harder. “I-I-I-I…”

“We’d love to, ma’am, thank you so much.” Alyssa stands and pats Emma on the cheek. “Aren’t you coming, darling?”

“Wh-What?”

“Aren’t you coming inside, darling?” Alyssa gives her an innocent smile.

Emma leans back on the bench. “I think I might just stay out here and die.”

“Don’t mind her, dear,” Mrs. Nolan says as she heads back into the house. “She’s always been a bit dramatic.”

“Has she now? Anything else you can tell me about her?” Alyssa asks, gleeful, as she follows.

Emma gives a small groan and lies down on the bench, covering her face with her hat.


End file.
